After leaving Cinque Terre we headed to Lucca as a short stop in route to Florence. We had heard good things and were not disappointed with the city. Unfortunately we were delayed by a late train which left us only about 24 hours in Lucca. Twenty four hours was not enough time and we had to scramble to try to take in as much as we could.

While in Lucca we walked around the old city wall which has been converted into a place for people looking to go for a leisure walk or to work out. It also provided some great people watch and provided us with a layout of the city. We also walked through the streets and up a tower to get a spectacular view of the terra-cotta rooftops. As you will see in the city most of the old town center is terra-cotta with an occasional church popping out. As i often with my travels I found a local bar that was serving only craft Italian beer and refused to carry any of the big producers. While speaking to the bartender he mentioned which were his favorites and which they were going to stop carrying due to them recently being acquired by InBev. I can get behind a local place that is making small craft its priority. The bar didn’t have much indoor seating(as in non) but thankfully Bill and Gail were willing to hang out with a bunch of hipsters on a street corner and have a beer.

I didn’t take a ton of pictures in Lucca as we didn’t have too much time, I wish we had more time as the city has a nice laid back feel. Next stop Florence.

A view of Lucca from the tower.

A view from above into one of the little alleys.

Panoramic of the city.

Another view from the tower of the other tower that had trees on top of it. It looked slightly like something out of a fantasy novel.

Us.

A view down from the top of the tower.

One of the plazas was in a circle with all access being via small alleys.

Amazing mosaic at the top of the church.